For The Children

America’s Foster Care System: Test Lab For Big Pharma, Cash Cow For Caretakers?

"Of the more than 400,000 children in the U.S. foster care system, it’s estimated that more than 50 percent are on some sort of psychiatric drug. Money is part of the reason. Foster parents are paid more to take care of a child with mental health issues. On average, a foster family earns about $17 a day for taking in a child who needs a basic level of care. But a child who is taking drugs such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiety medications or anticonvulsant medications is worth around $1,000 a day. And foster parents are not responsible for paying for the medicines, either, as they are covered by Social Security." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerica’s Foster Care System: Test Lab For Big Pharma, Cash Cow For Caretakers?

Marijuana stops child’s severe seizures

"The marijuana strain Charlotte and now 41 other patients use to ease painful symptoms of diseases such as epilepsy and cancer has been named after her. It's called Charlotte's Web. 'I didn't hear her laugh for six months,' Paige said. 'I didn't hear her voice at all, just her crying. I can't imagine that I would be watching her making these gains that she's making, doing the things that she's doing (without the medical marijuana). I don't take it for granted. Every day is a blessing.' Matt added, 'I want to scream it from the rooftops. I want other people, other parents, to know that this is a viable option.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarijuana stops child’s severe seizures

For Smoking Marijuana, the Government Ruined This Man’s Family Forever

"For the simple crime of smoking marijuana, Texas man Joshua Hill’s family is destroyed forever. The government took Hill’s two-year old daughter away from him because he was caught smoking pot while she was asleep. But under the watch of Child Protective Services (CPS), Hill’s child was abused and eventually murdered by foster parents. Was Hill’s 'crime' of smoking marijuana worse than the state’s prescription of removing his child from the home and placing her into a foster system with as much as 10 times higher risk of abuse?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFor Smoking Marijuana, the Government Ruined This Man’s Family Forever

Chinese baby ‘sold by doctor’ reunited with parents

"Zhang Suxia, the doctor responsible for the birth, allegedly persuaded the parents to give up their child last month after informing them he had serious congenital diseases. The paper reported that a farmer with three daughters bought the baby boy from the alleged traffickers for 60,000 yuan ($9,800). Trafficking of children is a serious problem in China, blamed in part on the 'one-child' policy which has put a premium on baby boys, with girls sometimes sold off, abandoned or put up for adoption. Chinese police rescued 89 children and arrested 355 suspects in December after breaking up a series of child trafficking rings." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChinese baby ‘sold by doctor’ reunited with parents

China Is Ending Its “One-Child Policy” – Here Are The Implications

"The one-child-policy is very unpopular. [..] Currently, a second child is permitted if both parents are singletons. Rural families can have a second child if the first-born is a girl. Some provinces have even looser policies for rural families. There are also other exceptions for a second child, and minority ethnic groups are allowed to have two or even more children. Families which have more children than the policy allows are subject to fines under the name of social maintenance fees. The fee amount varies across the nation, but usually is at least 2-6 times of the higher of annual family income and average local household disposable income." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina Is Ending Its “One-Child Policy” – Here Are The Implications

Court sides with lovers of boobies: School cannot ban breast cancer awareness bracelets

"A full U.S. appeals court ruled Monday that a Pennsylvania school district could not ban 'I (heart) Boobies!' bracelets under the First Amendment. With help from the American Civil Liberties Union, two middle schoolers filed a free-speech lawsuit against the Easton Area School District in 2010 after being suspended for wearing the breast cancer awareness bracelets on the school’s Breast Cancer Awareness Day. School officials said the 'I (heart) Boobies!' slogan was lewd and distracted students. The school district also argued the bracelets violated the Title IX right to be free from sexual harassment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCourt sides with lovers of boobies: School cannot ban breast cancer awareness bracelets

Get ready for the ‘War on Sugar’

"The 'metabolic syndrome' maladies associated with insulin resistance and obesity – many authorities now just use the term 'diabesity' – are expected soon to overtake tobacco as the leading cause of heart disease in the world. And perhaps of cancer, too. Farmer Mike Small has high hopes for the campaign for a Scottish tax on sugar-sweetened beverages: he and his sustainable food campaign, the Fife Diet, will launch a new manifesto for it in September. Forms of sugar-sweetened beverage tax have already started in Denmark, France, Finland and Hungary. Scotland, Small says, is in the mood to follow." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGet ready for the ‘War on Sugar’

Healthy girl confiscated from parents who smoked pot, given to murderous foster mother

"A little girl was confiscated from her loving parents because they smoked marijuana, and given away to a foster mother who put her into a coma and killed her. Alexandria Hill, age 2, succumbed to her injuries after being 'thrown to the ground.' 'We never hurt our daughter. She was never sick, she was never in the hospital, and she never had any issues until she went into state care,' said Joshua Hill, the girl's natural father. Hill says that his daughter was put in to more than one dangerous foster home." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHealthy girl confiscated from parents who smoked pot, given to murderous foster mother

Father of foster child who died after being seized by state over marijuana speaks out

"Alex was living with foster parents after DFPS removed her from her parents' home last November for 'neglectful supervision.' Hill admits they were smoking pot when their daughter was asleep. 'We never hurt our daughter. She was never sick, she was never in the hospital, and she never had any issues until she went into state care.' For two months, Alex was placed in a home that Hill says was dangerous. 'She would come to visitation with bruises on her, and mold and mildew in her bag. It got to a point where I actually told CPS that they would have to have me arrested because I wouldn't let her go back.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFather of foster child who died after being seized by state over marijuana speaks out

Texas jailer must face trial after video caught him raping 15-year-old

"A federal judge ruled this week that a trial against a Texas jailer can go forward after video caught him allegedly raping a 15-year-old female inmate. In a suit filed late last year, Michelle and Danny Hall accused former Harris County correctional officer Robert Robinson of raping their daughter, M.S.H., during her two month stay at Houston’s Harris County Juvenile Justice Center. The suit accuses Robinson of 'grooming' the girl with food and candy, before the encounters 'quickly escalated with quid pro quo requests that exchanged gifts for genital fondling and touching.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTexas jailer must face trial after video caught him raping 15-year-old